Back2Better Webinar: Adaptation and Social Capital in a Virtual Environment with Michael Arena

These are truly extraordinary times. Social distancing puts us at risk for social disengagement and threatens to deplete one of our most important and relevant resources—our social capital. Perhaps more than ever, how we are connected is essential for determining productivity, innovation, and individual wellbeing. Based on years of organizational network research, this session will share a proven, tested methodology for enabling tacit learning and innovation, even in a virtual world.

VP talent and development, Amazon Web Services. Ideas: Champion of making traditional companies agile. Four key network roles in creating adaptive organizations: brokers, connectors, energizers, and challengers. Content: Adaptive Space: How GM and Other Companies Are Positively Disrupting Themselves and Transforming into Agile Organizations (McGraw Hill, 2018).

Responsible for global talent practices, leadership development and learning at Amazon Web Services. Previously, he was chief talent officer for GM. At GM launched GM2020, a grassroots initiative to enable employees to positively disrupt the way they work. At Bank of America, launched the Center for Future Banking, to positively disrupt consumer banking. Visiting scientist with MIT’s Media Lab. PhD in organizational dynamics from the Union Institute and University.

About Back2Better

We are excited to partner up with Executive Networks to bring an exclusive collection of new resources for navigating change through the Back2Better webinar series, which includes 50 Webinars in 50 Weeks. The series officially kicks off in September and focuses on real-time actionable insights from the world’s top business leaders, academics, and HR thought leaders that help organizations adapt and evolve to the new future of work.

A catalyst for deeper exploration of the world of work, Back2Better is a platform for community knowledge-sharing that will help prepare forward-thinking organizations and their leaders to evolve and grow in the months to come. Through informative webinars delivered over the course of 50 weeks, this program covers timely topics selected moment to moment through a process informed by Executive Network member surveys, research from the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard, and insights from an esteemed advisory board. This is your opportunity to explore how you can adapt to the future of HR post-COVID with leading business professionals from Harvard, NYU, Amazon, and other top institutions and organizations.